Swachh Bharat is an important scheme of GoI to improve the hygiene and public health in India. The scheme has noble objectives but its implementation raises the concerns of the sanitation workers and their working conditions which in turn affects the efficacy of the programme.

Directive word

Comment- here we have to express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.

Key demand of the question.

The question wants us to delve deep into the Swachh Bharat mission and probe how its success can be ensured only when stigmas attached to sanitary labour are addressed. Here we have to bring out the concerns of the labour and how it affects the Swachh Bharat mission.

Structure of the answer

Introduction- Write a few lines about SBM and its vision- to achieve a clean and Open Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2nd October, 2019. Mention the objectives of- motivating communities to adopt sustainable sanitation practices and facilities through awareness creation and health education, and to create significant positive impact on gender and promote social inclusion by improving sanitation especially in marginalized communities.

Body-

Mention that municipalities employ contractual labourers for SBM— mostly scavengers forced into the profession by their caste — to remove waste; The SB campaign burdens the contractual labourer with an ‘exclusive’ right to cleaning public spaces, while making it a voluntary act for the ‘public’ to not defecate, urinate or litter in random spaces; this reinforces the marginalization and stigmatization of such labourers; The Swachh Bharat campaign hardly addresses a reworking of the underground sewerage system due to which many such labourers have died recently while cleaning jammed manholes that open into the sewerage system etc.

Conclusion- bring out the need for caste-neutralising these professions and adoption of technologies and adequate safety measures in order to make SBM successful not only for the most of India but also for the sanitation workers whose efforts and toil go largely unnoticed.